Common Grounds
by doctoring
Summary: Edd decides that if he were to get closer to his crush, they need to have a common ground. Soon, Edd finds himself thrown into the theory of sports and eventually helping Kevin with baseball practice. But how long can this last? A fic written for Writer's Month. Word Prompt: sports


With a heavy sigh, Edd deleted the file.

He had tried to come up with an algorithm to figure out the potential timeline of his relationship with Kevin. Based on their interactions so far, he wanted to know how long it would take for them to naturally become closer until one of them finally admits their feelings and ask the other person out. He figured that person would most likely be him, since he wasn't sure if Kevin would even see him in that light, so he added that bit to the algorithm as well.

When he saw the output, a number of years no modern man can live to, he decided to scrap the whole algorithm.

_It's probably because all our interactions have been slight so far. We usually hang out in groups, or I just observe from afar. We barely hangout just the two of us… but why?_

Edd immediately pushes aside the thought that he tries to avoid such interactions because he's always a bumbling mess around his crush.

Edd debated a secondary cause for a moment, and realized it was because they didn't have something in common that they could use as a reason to hang out.

He had comics and monster movies with Ed.

He had tv shows, biking, and talk about the economy and politics with Eddy.

He had swimming with Nazz. Sometimes they just sat in silence though, and that was still enjoyable.

He had gardening with Rolf, though they hung out infrequently. But it was still more alone time than Edd was getting with Kevin.

Edd thought back to what he had in common with Kevin, an activity or hobby or topic of discussion.

_There's his bike, though he hasn't been riding it much this past year, and football… but what else?_

For the first two weeks of summer vacation, Edd payed extra close attention to the things that interested Kevin and came up with quite the repetitive list.

Football was there several times, as to be expected.

Basketball mentioned twice.

Exercising and cardio made the unfortunate cameo on the list.

There was also a mention of soccer.

But Baseball? Baseball was over 60% of his list of things Kevin was into.

_SPORTS, SPORTS, SPORTS! Is that all he cares about?_ Edd wonders why he's even interested in him if there's no common ground. Nevertheless, he's still looking up videos regarding curve balls.

Because of the overwhelming existence of baseball in Kevin's life currently, Edd decided to start there. For the next month, he studied baseball. He learned all the rules, basic techniques for throwing, catching, pitching, hitting, etc. Although, this was all theoretical learning. Not once did he actually lay a hand on a baseball.

And as Edd studied, he also continued to find some time with Kevin. However, it seems as though Kevin had thrown himself into the world of baseball, not wanting to hang out with the cul-de-sac kids much unless they wanted to play.

Finally, one day, Nazz invited everyone to her pool. She made a point to call Kevin out, saying he doesn't hang out with anyone anymore. Not surprisingly, Kevin said he couldn't make it.

"Nah, I really gotta hit the mound. Gotta figure out why my elbow and shoulder feels out of whack when I pitch. So, if you really want to hang out with me, grab a mitt."

"Are you tucking your elbow in?" Edd immediately bit his bottom lip and prayed Kevin hadn't heard him.

"Huh? My elbow?" He does two mock pitches, then freezes when his elbow pops on the second throw. "Shit, you're right!"

"Language, Kevin."

"Whatever. How'd you know that?"

Edd shrugs. "I know a tiny bit about the physiology within baseball, specifically for typical form and efficiency."

"English?"

Edd rolled his eyes. "I know how your body should move if you want to play ball correctly."

"Is that so?" Kevin cocked his head at Edd and give him a wicked grin. Edd felt elated and terrified. This feeling only increased when Kevin snatched his arm and dragged him away from Nazz's driveway. "That settles it then. You're coming with me."

Kevin drags Edd to his garage, where he retrieves a small bookbag.

Edd barely even processed this. He was too focused on not tripping and staring at their hands.

Kevin had him by the wrist, a few fingers across the back of Edd's hand. Edd wondered how he could get Kevin to lower his hand, maybe turn it a bit, so they would be holding hands properly. But the next thing he knew, Kevin had let go, to put his arm through a strap of a bookbag.

"C'mon, let's go."

Kevin started walking off.

"Go? …Where?"

"To the mound, of course. I got a lot of training to do, and you're going to help me."

Edd panicked. _I had only wanted to talk baseball. At best maybe play catch one day, if he didn't see that as being lame since it's not a real sport…_

"K-Kevin. I believe you have the wrong idea. I know nothing about actually playing. I can't throw a ball to save my life! I only know the theories behind it."

Kevin shrugs and says, "Good enough for me. I don't expect you to play. Not today at least."

Edd looks around a bit worried, unsure of what to do. _This is what I wanted, right?_

This time Kevin grabs him by the elbow, leading them away from the cul-de-sac. It's only then that Edd notices the baseball bat sticking out of Kevin's bookbag.

_Oh my gracious, this is really happening, isn't it?_

Edd was so happy to be finally, _finally_, spending time with Kevin, just the two of them, but he was a bit worried. It sounded as if Kevin had expected him to help regularly, and eventually play with him. He wasn't sure if he could force that much of a common ground between them.

However, his worries were soon dashed away, when he found that all he had to do was watch Kevin pitch, and correct him on proper stance and movement.

_Just watch Kevin, getting sweaty in the sun in just his basketball shorts and a tank top…_

Edd could definitely do that much.

Plus, it was the field the cul-de-sac kids crudely constructed years ago, right on the edge of the forest, so Edd could stay in the shade while watching Kevin, without touching a ball himself.

_Never imagined it would turn out like this, but I'm glad it did!_

Kevin did several pitches in a row, depleting his entire bookbag of baseballs. He jogged off to retrieve them all, leaving Edd to sit in the shade of a nearby tree.

Edd didn't sit though, not when he found a beetle he had never observed in Peach Creek before.

He pulled out his magnifying glass and field notebook from his back pocket, following the bug up the trunk of the tree. As he pulled a pencil out of his hat to sketch the amazingly fluorescent exoskeleton, he hears a chuckle behind him.

"Are you seriously about to draw that bug's portrait?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"But why?"

Edd shrugs and looks back at the bug. "Because he's new, and I want to record him… wait, did you need help with-"

Kevin shakes his head and takes a few steps away. "Nah, I'm good. I'm just going to keep practicing, so you can go ahead and, uh, record that dude there. I'll holler if I need help or something."

Edd nodded and went back to the beetle, a bit concerned that he might have ruined his time with Kevin.

Kevin stayed true to his word, and kept practicing, until he suddenly asked, "Do you know anything about curve balls?"

The next day, Kevin asked Edd if he could help him again, and Edd readily agreed. This time bringing sunscreen and a few colored pencils in case he saw the colorful beetle again.

The following day, Kevin didn't even ask. He just showed up outside Edd's house with an extra water bottle for him, and said, "We're doing batting today."

The day after that, Edd left his house, a bag with lunch and field supplies slung over his shoulder, right as Kevin started walking up his driveway.

He never expected for things to progress so swimmingly, but he was glad for his slip of the tongue a few days ago.

That day, Kevin was once again practicing batting, tossing the ball up into the air, and swinging at it, as Edd corrected him whenever his stance or form faltered any.

When Kevin went to retrieve the balls again, Edd saw that beetle, the one who's shell shined different colors with the sunlight. He quickly opened up his field book, found the two sketches he made previously of it, and filled them in with color.

Unfortunely, Edd drew a purple line straight through the beetle's head when Kevin appeared beside him, startling him.

"Sorry, dork," Kevin said quietly. "I just wanted a look."

Edd tilted the field book towards him, frowning as the beetle scurried out of sight.

Kevin gave him a low whistle. "Dang, that's really good. I didn't know you could draw."

"I guess it comes with naturalist observations in entomology."

"Enta… molly… wait, what?"

Edd giggled. "Entomology. The study of bugs."

"So, you actually like studying those things?" Kevin said, a bit incredulously.

Edd nodded his head, placing the field book back into his bag. "I find them fascinating. Some of them form communities as complex as humans do, all with various jobs and purposes in their short lives."

"That's not foreboding at all, no." Kevin said, snark clearly there but Edd wasn't sure about the tremble. "But seriously, you should take art class or something. Another easy A for you."

Edd feels himself blushing. "I actually signed up to take it this fall. Last class of the day, so I can get an academic break before science club or tutoring."

"Seriously!? Me too! But so I don't miss much if I got football practice or an away game."

Edd felt a weird flip in his stomach at the thought of Kevin being in a class with him the following semester. _Art class. Another common ground. _He jokingly thought about pulling up that algorithm again and seeing if it gave him an output that was under a century.

Kevin's voice cut into his thoughts. "Anyways, wanna help me with my batting."

"Okay, show me what you got." Edd gestured towards the field, waiting to Kevin to take his place and show him his swing again.

"No, I mean really help me."

"I thought that was what I was doing…" Edd trailed off, a bit concerned as to what Kevin was implying.

"I've just been tossing the ball into the air. That's not how the ball's gonna come at me during a real game. I need you to pitch, so I can get some real batting practice in."

"OH NO, NO, NO!" Edd said, stepping back from Kevin. "NOT GOING TO HAPPEN."

"C'mon, Edd. How can I try out for the baseball team next season if I don't get some real practice in?"

"Is that why you're doing this? To join the school's team?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, saw them play this season and realizes I wanted to be on the field with them. So ya gonna help me or not?"

"I can't!"

Kevin threw his head back in frustration, his hand going limp so the bat on his shoulder swung down and hit the ground with a loud _**THUMP**__._

"Edd, please?"

"I literally can not help you! I know how to do all this in theory, but I haven't touched a baseball sine middle school! Maybe even before then!"

Kevin rolls his head back down and gives Edd a wicked grin. "Then I guess we're just going to go back to pitching practice. _YOUR. _Pitching practice."

"No, no, no. I don't think-"

"C'mon dork. Didn't you once say once can learn a lot via teaching. Let me teach you how to throw and catch a baseball, and it might help me as well."

Edd reluctantly agreed, but found himself enjoying the process, as terrible as he was a player.

The next day, Kevin was waiting for Edd without the duffle bag. Instead he had only two mitts and a ball.

"What's this about?"

"Your pitching practice."

"I thought we already done that."

"Can you pitch a ball to me so I can bat it?"

Edd shook his head. "Gracious, no. Nowhere near close to that."

"Then we're nowhere near close to ending your practice."

A few moments into practice, Edd realizes something. "Wait… what about your practice? Don't you need to practice your swing, your run, your whatever else besides witnessing my athletic inability?"

Kevin snickers. "Whatever, dork. You're not that bad. Plus, this is still fun. I mean, are you not having fun?" Kevin freezes, holding the ball against his mitt.

"No, no, I didn't say that."

"Right. So, catch."

They continued on like that until Edd managed to pitch three times in a row, right over the center of the plate. They were slow and low, but they were over the plate, and that's all Kevin was aiming for at the moment.

Edd starts bouncing up and down, excited that he managed to get three in a row. _And about time too! Now Kevin has to hold up his end of the deal and let me get back to my field notes for ten minutes._

But Edd's victory was short lived.

Instead of throwing the ball back to him, Kevin starts running towards him.

Edd's confusion held him in place, and next thing he knew, Kevin had enveloped him in a hug. Before Edd could get his body to return the gesture, he was being spun around. Edd laughed, a bit nervously, until Kevin sit him back down on the ground.

"Dude, that was great! I'm really-" Kevin flinched when the water hit his face.

Edd watched as Kevin looked up, a few more drops splattering on his face, one hitting Edd on the cheek in the process

"Shit!" Kevin said, grabbing Edd's hand and running.

Edd had no time to remind him to watch his tongue. He looked behind him and saw the storm rolling in. It was almost like a wall of rain chasing after them, and they were losing ground.

They were only halfway to the cul-de-sac when the wall had caught up to them, drenching them instantly. Edd felt terrible, knowing that Kevin could have probably made it home, if it weren't for Edd's slower pace.

Kevin stopped, and let go of Edd's arm. Edd assumed he was leaving him behind, going to seek a dry space without him. Instead, Kevin tosses the glove and ball to him, before kneeling, his back facing Edd.

"Get on."

"Beg pardon?" Edd tried to shield his head with the mitts, knowing it was futile at this point.

"Piggy-back. Now!" Kevin shouted through the rain.

Edd starts running again. "I'm fine! You go ahead!"

Edd feels himself being yanked back. Next thing he knows, he's being slung over Kevin's shoulder. Kevin jogs a few steps, but Edd is flailing.

"Fine! Fine! I submit to the piggy-back ride! Just set me down."

Kevin laughs, letting Edd slide off his shoulder. Edd gets on Kevin's back, feeling weird about the whole ordeal.

Kevin had already hugged him today, but this, this felt much more intimate.

_Maybe it's because of the rain, making his skin slick against mine,_ Edd thought, as he felt his arms slide against Kevin's shoulders.

Though this started as a means to get home sooner, the boys soon found themselves laughing as Kevin ran in a zig-zag pattern through the cul-de-sac, bypassing both of their homes. On his loop back, Kevin went straight towards his home.

Kevin ran into the garage right as his mother stepped out to close it.

As the door was lower, she shouts at Kevin. "Put that poor kid down, he looks terrified!"

Kevin complies with a laugh as she steps back into the house. They stand there for a moment, a bit confused as to what to do now.

Soon, Kevin's mother returns with towels. As she hands them out, she says, "Oh, Kevin, I picked up those insect books for you from the public library. I left them on the coffee table."

"Thanks," he mumbles, as he tosses his hat off and roughly dries his face.

As Kevin's mother went inside, Edd turned to Kevin and asked, "Insect books? You getting into entomology too?"

Kevin shrugs. "I wouldn't say that, now… but I… I mean, it's just a bit of light reading, you know… no big deal…"

Edd wasn't sure how to decipher that, wasn't sure if Kevin was just focused on drying off or if this really was a sensitive topic for him. Edd decided to question it later, perhaps when they're both no longer dripping all over the garage floor.

He takes of his hat, wringing it dry several times. When he looks up to find a place to hang it, Kevin is impossibly close, and looking a bit rattled.

He can see and hear when Kevin gulps. He startles a bit when Kevin starts reaching a hand out towards him, his own reaction halting Kevin's action.

It's then that Edd realizes he just took his hat off in front of Kevin, and Kevin was about to touch his hair.

Edd's a bit sensitive about his hair and being seen like this is unnerving. But what's more unnerving is Edd's immediately regret of flinching, causing Kevin to freeze.

_Did I _want_ him to touch my hair?_

Before Edd could get lost in a dangerous train of thought, Kevin snatches his own hand back and says, "Do you… Um, do you think it's important… for couples… to have like, _all_ the same interest?"

_Does he know!?_

Edd stumbles on his response because of his own intent to get closer to Kevin via baseball.

"I think it may _help_, but it's not necessary… As long as there are other things they can talk about. Besides, I don't think it's statistically possible to have _ALL_ the same interests… Why?"

Edd suddenly felt like a hypocrite, saying that after all the work he put into learning baseball to have something in common with his crush.

Kevin nods before heading towards the door to the kitchen. Instead of going in, he just peeks inside. He then shuts it all the way and walks back towards Edd, who was now trying to dry his hair.

"Okay, so real talk. I hate bugs."

"Then why did you mother get those books for you?"

"Cause I asked her to."

Edd thinks about it for a moment before saying, "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

Kevin wraps the towel around his shoulders and sits on the edge of a work bench.

"Okay… so… I'm really creeped out by bugs. Extremely. Like, I have to have Ma kill them for me. AND SO HELP ME IF YOU TELL ANYONE, I'LL POUND YOU."

Edd laughs and raises his hands in defense. "Don't worry. I won't! But I still don't get why you wanted books on bugs if you can't stand them that much."

Kevin rubs the back of his neck while toying with his bottom lip between his teeth. Edd watched him. He could tell he was deep in thought, mulling over how to explain a few books. It didn't seem of importance to Edd, but apparently it was to Kevin.

"I guess I just wanted to know more about them… just in theory… kinda like you and baseball until a few days ago when I made you pitch." Kevin laughs nervously.

Edd shrugs. "That's one way to get over your fear, I suppose. Learn more about them in a safer manner, such as books."

"I wasn't trying to get over my fear. I was just… I was trying to get closer to you."

Edd adverts his eyes and grips his hat between his hands. He thinks back to the weeks he spent absorbed in sports when he rather be reading comics or doing something more academic, like entomology.

He feels cold from the rain, both boys not having done much to dry off so far. However, his face feels impossibly warm.

He looks back over at Kevin, who's giving him a worried look. Edd feels his cheeks flush even more.

"I have… I have something to admit as well…"

-the end-


End file.
